PIPRITES. 107 
Fam. PIPRIDA*. 
Subfam. PIPRINA. 
PIPRITES. 
Piprites, Cabanis,in Wiegm. Arch. f. Naturg. xiii. pt. i. p. 234 (1847); Scl. Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. 
Xiv. p. 2838. 
Hemipipo, Cab. 1. s. ec. 
Piprites is a small genus containing five species, found in the mountainous parts 
of South America, one species occurring in Costa Rica, having near allies in Guiana, 
the Andes of Colombia and Ecuador, and in South-eastern Brazil. The genus, as now 
understood, comprises both Piprites and Hemipipo of Cabanis. The former contains 
P. pileatus alone ; the latter the other four species including P. griseiceps of Costa Rica. 
In general structure there seem to be insufficient grounds for separating the two groups, 
the difference resting almost entirely on the coloration of the plumage. Unlike the 
general rule in the Piprinz, the sexes are similarly clothed. The bill in P. griseiceps is 
strong, wide at the base, and with a very distinct notch near the end of the tomia of the 
maxilla; the nostrils are large, and open at the end of the nasal fossa, and overhung 
by the setose supra-nasal feathers; the rictal bristles are strong. The second, third, 
and fourth primaries are subequal, the first < fifth. The tail is rounded; the tarsi 
and toes slender, the outer toe a little longer than the inner. 
1. Piprites griseiceps. (Tab. XLI. fig. 3.) 
Piprites griseiceps, Salv. P. Z. 8. 1864, p. 583'; Lawr. Ann. Lyc. N. Y. ix. p. 116°; Pelz. & Madar. 
Mon. Pipride, pt. i. p. 9, t. 3. fig. 2°; Scl. Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xiv. p. 285 *. 
* The Pipride is a purely neotropical family containing about seventy species, which are distributed over 
the hotter forest-clad parts of South America, from Paraguay northwards, and through Central America to the 
middle of the Mexican State of Vera Cruz. Thirteen species only occur within our limits, belonging to five of 
the nineteen genera into which the family has been divided. Mr. Sclater, in his recent Catalogue (Cat. Birds 
Brit. Mus. xiv. p. 282), divides the family into two subfamilies—Piprine and Ptilochlorine. The former, 
represented in our country by the genera Piprites, Pipra, Chiroxiphia, and Chiromacheris, he distinguishes by 
the bill being short and wide at the base, the maxilla hardly notched near the tip, the rictal bristles feebly 
developed, and the general contrast between the sexes as regards the coloration of their plumage, the males in 
most cases being brightly clad. The latter subfamily is represented by Heteropelma alone, in which the above 
characters are reversed. The Pipride as well as the Cotingide have the toes united at the base, but the tarsi are 
differently covered. The divisions of the Pipride as thus defined will have to be reconsidered at some future 
time, for the contrast between such birds as Piprites and Metopothri« is so great that they cannot well remain 
under the common definition assigned to them. In Piprites the bill is short, wide at the base, the subterminal 
notch quite distinct, and the rictal bristles well developed. In Metopothria the bill is long and narrow, the 
tomia of the maxilla is destitute of a notch, and there are no traces of rictal bristles. We can only here 
indicate these discrepancies, and leave the reconstruction of the classification of these complex families to a 
future monographer. 
14.* 
